Class Dismissed (Miraculous One Shot)
by MiraculouslyTrashy
Summary: When faced with impossible circumstances, can Adrien and Marinette trust their classmates to keep their identities a secret? What if they can't?


"...And that's why I think every classroom should be tended by hairdressers." Chloe concludes her presentation with a toss of her ponytail and a final gesture to Sabrina's nappy hair next to her.

A weak clap sounds from the rest of the class. "Thank you Chloe and Sabrina for presenting your, _very,_ persuasive essay." Miss Bustier gestures for them to return to their seats. "Up next, we have Marinette and Alya."

Marinette's tapping foot freezes in place, her hands grasping her notecards a bit tighter. Alya nudges her as she stands up and makes her way to the front of the class; Marinette follows.

She takes some deep breaths as Miss Bustier gives the 'okay', leading Alya to start their introduction, as rehearsed. "I'm Alya Cesaire,"

"And I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She states, trying to focus her eyes around the room, but can't escape Adrien sitting, attentive, right in front of her. She smiles to herself. Ever since she and Adrien found out each other's identities as Ladybug and Chat Noir, Adrien's presence no longer caused her to become a ball of nerves, it was quite the opposite now. His silent support was all she needed.

"And we're here to talk about the _real_ problem facing our school," Alya continues, accompanied by an eye roll from Chloe.

Marinette clears her throat slightly and takes too shallow of a breath, "The-" the room shakes, cutting her off with a low rumble.

"Earthquake!" Someone yells as everyone grips their seat; Alya and Marinette falling back against Miss Bustier's desk for support.

An orange haze descends all around them along the walls. "I don't think this is an earthquake." Marinette said just loud enough for Alya to hear, but her eyes immediately shot to Adrien, meeting his own knowing gaze.

"Ahahaha!" A laugh echoed through the school. "Now everyone will know the power of The Master-Lock!" the voice continued before returning to a maniacal laugh.

The rumbling stopped and Adrien ran to the door, pulling on the handle. "It won't move!" He exclaimed, still trying to force it open.

"The windows won't open either!" Mylene cried as Ivan struggled to pry open one of the windows.

Marinette's eyes dart around the room, "Uh, there has to be a way out!" She says in vain as she watches almost everyone in the room frantically fighting with any possible exit.

Adrien clears his throat, calling Marinette over. They take to a corner of the room, "There's-"

"-Nowhere to transform," Marinette cuts him off, "and the only way out of here is either with Lucky Charm or Cataclysm, probably, hopefully." She sighs, "What are we going to do? Even if we somehow transformed without people noticing, they won't believe that Chat and Ladybug-"

"I know." He rests a hand on her shoulder in attempt to calm her. "I...don't know if there's a way around it," his eyes close and he takes a deep breath.

"Tikki?" Marinette calls softly to her Kwami. She pokes her head out of her purse. "There's not really a way around this time." Her voice strains at the end, almost unable to admit it.

Tikki sighs, "This was bound to happen." She says in a small voice "We'll just have to... hope for the best. Otherwise, this could be the end of Ladybug and Chat Noir."

By this time, the rest of the class has given up at opening the windows or door and gathered in the center of the room. Some pairs of eyes stray towards Marinette and Adrien talking closely in the corner of the room; one set belonged to Chloe. "Adrien! Come over here with me instead of Marinette." Any stray eyes find their way to Adrien and Marinette in the corner.

Miss Bustier, ignoring Chloe's comment, waves them over, "Come in more, away from the walls."

They hesitate a moment too long, exchanging a quick glance. "We... can't..." Marinette says quietly, taking a half step backwards. Her hand automatically moves to her purse containing her Kwami.

"What do you mean _exactly_?" Chloe pipes up, accusingly.

Adrien steps forward, "If we want to get out of here you're gonna have to listen to... listen to... _me_." His thumb rubs against his ring anxiously.

He steps in front of Marinette, gently clamping her hand over her purse behind him. "To get us out, you _all_ have to promise to keep a secret. There are no exceptions. This stays in this room." He eyes the crowd of classmates, most taken aback by this outburst from the normally quiet student. "Do you all promise to keep what's about to happen a secret?" They nod, unsure of what was in store for them.

"Adrien," Marinette quietly calls, not wanting him to do this alone. He squeezes her hand on her purse reassuringly.

"Alright?" He calls to the class. They nod, a little less tentatively, giving into his leading role. He takes a deep breath, bracing for what might happen next. He steps forward, away from Marinette, letting her go. "Remember, you all promised...Plagg, Transform Me!" A familiar flash of green runs over his body, leaving the black suit in its place. Mask and all, he stands before his class; it wasn't long before he gets a response.

A collective gasp comes over them, they turn towards each other for confirmation that what happened before them really happened. A squeal shatters the room. Chloe runs towards Chat and wraps her arms around his neck, "I knew it, I totally knew it! Of course Paris's cutest super hero would be Paris's cutest model," she kisses him on the cheek right as he manages to break her hold on him.

He clears his throat, "I really need for this to stay a secret. I don't want to put any of you in danger for knowing and I really don't want this to affect anything at all. If word gets out that I'm Chat... I may have to give up my role." He says, looking off to the side; Marinette is still standing behind him.

Alya steps forward, "Adrien, I promise to never tell a soul." Her face humbled by the realization. More audible ' _I promise_ 's come from the crowd.

"Oh, don't worry Chat, I mean Adrien, your secret is safe with me." She takes his hand in hers, "You can even tell me who Ladybug is, I won't tell anyone." She smiles hopefully. Everyone else seems to perk up, listening.

Chat hesitates, resisting the automatic reflex of turning back towards Marinette. "N-no, I actually don't know her true identity either." He shakes Chloe loose again. "I'm gonna get you guys out now, and then I can stop Master-Lock." He walks over to the door, the class parting around him "Cataclysm!" He cries before touching the door with his hand cloaked in darkness. The door turns to ash at his touch, disintegrating. "Now, try to get to safety, this will all be over soon."

They file out into the hall, Chloe lingering until Chat ushers her along, leaving just him and Marinette.

"You didn't have to do it alone." She says, brushing his hair back from his eyes.

He chuckles, "I know; but, I think protecting the identity of Paris' superheroine is pretty sacred. I wouldn't ask you to unless we had to, and we didn't." He smirks.

She smiles warmly, "Thanks." She transforms into Ladybug in a flash of red, "Now, I think we have an Akuma to catch." She runs out of the room ahead of him.

His smile falters as he runs after her.

"Bye bye, little butterfly." Ladybug's yoyo reveals the purified butterfly as it flies away. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She throws her lucky charm into the air, curing the akumatized man and unlocking the rest of the doors in the school.

Cheers erupt as students pour into the main courtyard at the center of the school. Chat and Ladybug wave as they make their way out of the school, away from the crowds to transform back. On their way out, they spy the usual news truck pulling up in front of the school. Reporters always wanting to know about the latest Akuma attack, or to get an interview with the superheroes themselves. The principal tries his best to keep them out of the school and away from the students.

Chat and Ladybug manage to sneak by undetected to their usual place to de-transform. Once back to their normal attire, they simply walk back in the doors of the school just as the principal gets on the speakers telling everyone to return to class, "Please resume your normal schedule till the end of the day." His voice echoes through the school as everyone meanders their way to their next class.

"Seems like you lucked out this time, Mari, your presentation will just have to be finished on Monday." Adrien nudges her.

She pushes back, "That's why they call me Ladyluck."

"Who calls you that?" He smirks.

"I've heard it around." The class bell chimes, "I'll see ya for patrol after school!" She reminds before walking to her next class.

He waves as he makes his own way to class. As everyone else scurries to class, he feels more eyes on him than usual, or maybe it was the slight paranoia.

"Won't be long now." Plagg whispers under his shirt.

Adrien talks quietly, carefully, "Long till what?" His eyes shift around to make sure no one's paying attention to him.

"The rumors. Kids these days just can't keep a lid on anything." Adrien can practically hear him roll his eyes.

"Well you weren't much help when I had to make the decision to either be stuck in that room forever or to just face the problem and transform." He says curtly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you had ' _no other choice_ '. At least you were smart enough to spare Ladybug's identity."

"Thanks, I guess."

The final bell rings. Students swarm from their classrooms and onto the streets of Paris. Adrien lags at the back. His mind had been running wild with all the possibilities of what happens now, his eyes unfocused on the ground as he walks down the stairs out of the school

As he steps off onto the sidewalk, someone jumps in front of him, "Camille Allaire, News at 7. What can you tell us about the Akuma attack at the school today?" She holds a microphone to him.

He takes a step back, "Uh, not much. I was locked in my classroom the whole time, didn't see much. Excuse me," he tries to stay polite, knowing his father would kill him if he didn't maintain his public image. He attempts to step around the reporter and her cameraman.

She deliberately blocks him. "That's not what our sources say." The faux friendly undertone of her voice drops a few notches, "Are you Paris' hero, _Chat Noir_?"

He inhales sharply, but otherwise is able to keep his composure, "'Chat Noir'? Someone told you that I'm _Chat Noir_?" he stifles a laugh, "What source told you that?"

The reporter is unrelenting, "We got a tip from a student at this school that said 'Adrien Agreste transformed into Chat Noir' right before their eyes. What is your comment on that?" She pushes her mic closer to him.

"That it's made up? Some kind of prank?" He lies easily. Just then he sees Nathalie and the Gorilla emerging from the car, noticing his situation. He's never been happier to see them.

Not a moment later, Nathalie moves herself between Adrien and the reporter, "No press." She says calmly as she guides him to the car, Gorilla keeping the reporter at bay.

Once inside the car, Nathalie doesn't hesitate, "What did they want?"

He shrugs, "They just wanted to know about the akuma attack, that's all." He calmly dismisses. This seems to satisfy her for the moment and she settles in for the silent ride home.

Adrien, on the other hand, tries and fails to suppress the constant shivers running up his spine. ' _Someone told. The rumor is out there._ ' rings throughout his mind. Instinctively, he reaches for his phone to text Marinette about the situation, but it only ends up clutched in his hand as he sees the small crowd of reporters gathered at the front gate to his house. He sinks into the seat.

Gorilla blasts the car horn, scowling at the reporters, and effectively getting them to move aside. Nathalie looks back at Adrien again, eyes narrowing.

"Nathalie!" Gabriel Agreste booms as soon as they enter the house. "Why is my phone ringing off the hook with reporters asking for my comment on Adrien?" He rounds the corner and makes eye contact with Adrien. "Why are there people on my phone asking if you are _Chat Noir_?" He asks, his jaw set.

"I don't know. This rumor was not my doing." Adrien confesses, keeping eye contact.

" _Humph_." He exhales, turning to focus his attention at Nathalie, "I demand to know who is at the bottom of this rumor. Find out and return to me once you have found the culprit." He demands before turning back to return to his office.

Adrien dismisses himself to his room, locking the door behind him. Plagg flies out of his jacket, "Here we go. This is how it starts: suspicion."

"Not now," Adrien ignores, pressing the contact button for Marinette on his phone. He holds the phone to his ear. "Pick up, pick up," he mumbles before the phone goes to voicemail. He hangs up, throwing his phone on the bed. "She must be on patrol already. Plagg, transform me."

In a flash of green, Chat Noir materializes. He leans out of his window, ready to leap out into the city, until he spies the news vans on the street below him. He, ungracefully, falls backwards into his room. He activates the communicator on his staff. Ladybug picks up immediately.

"Chat, where are you? Are you still in your room?" She asks as she seems to land herself on a rooftop.

"We have a problem." he says in a hushed voice, "There are news reporters outside my house asking if I'm Chat Noir. I can't risk leaving in case they see me and connect the dots. Oh, and my dad is trying to trace the rumor and who knows how that's going to go."

Her eyes widen, "C-Chat, just keep calm. I, uh, we'll figure this out, don't worry." She looks around, "Maybe it'll just blow over, just lay low, just stay Adrien."

"But what if there's an Akuma? I need to be there for you," he pleads, but doesn't have any other answer to counter with.

She smiles gently, "I'll be fine. Your identity is more important."

He sighs, "I wonder who told,"

"I think you need to ask our class tomorrow."

"Great job, Adrien, with yesterday and all, and I guess everything before that as well." Rose stutters as he enters the classroom the next day.

"Thanks, Rose." He smiles as he takes his seat, a little on edge about being in a room of people who know his secret.

"Tell Ladybug that she was awesome too!" Alya adds on as she slides into the seat behind him.

Marinette, following right behind Alya, struggles to hide her grin; Adrien notices, "I'll pass it along."

"Adrikins!" Chloe bursts in through the door and wraps her arms around Adrien. "I never got to tell you how glad I am that _you're_ Chat Noir-" a few students reflexively shush her, "-so now I can be your Ladybug! Wouldn't it be perfect?! Me and you all suited up and showing all of Paris what a _real_ team can do." She sits on his desk and plays with his hair, "How long does it take you to change your hair when you're Chat?"

Adrien clears his throat, "Chloe, did you tell the reporters about my identity?" He asks calmly.

She scoffs, waving her hand around, "Oh please, I would never."

"Did you talk to a reporter yesterday?" Alya presses.

She rolls her eyes, "Of course I did; all the reporters want my account of the attacks; I'm the mayor's daughter for crying out loud."

"Maybe you let it slip, on accident." Adrien coaxes, just wanting an answer.

She scoffs, "I can't _believe_ all of you! They only asked me if Chat and Ladybug showed up in time, and I was like, 'How can they not? Well, at least Adrien was here already, who knows where Ladybug spends her time,'" she looks around at everyone's gaping mouths and rolls her eyes, muttering "Simpletons." Before going to her seat.

"Well... that's that mystery solved." Alya concludes disapprovingly, "What now?"

Adrien puts his head in his hands, "I don't know. Even if they can't reach Chloe or anyone to back up the statement, it'll always be a rumor..." he takes a deep breath, accepting the inevitable.

"No!" Alya slams her hand on the table, "I'm not letting Chloe ruin this for you." She stands up, "I run the number one source of Ladybug and Chat Noir news, everyone in Paris knows it. I am going to kill this rumor before it starts!" She declares.

"How?" Nino asks.

She collects herself for a moment, "Adrien and Chat just have to be seen at the same place time! I'll film the whole thing and put it on the Ladyblog."

"Alya, that's perfect!" Marinette chimes.

Adrien eases, "You think we can pull it off?"

"Totally! Whenever the next akuma attack is, I'll take care of it." Alya assures. "Rose, can you help make disguise one of us as Adrien?"

"Of course! Easy." She chimes, "I think I have an old blonde wig at home that I can style to be just like Adrien's."

"Nathaniel, can you stand in as Adrien?" Alya directs.

His eyes go wide, "I-I, uh, yeah, I guess."

"You'll be great, Nathaniel. Thanks for helping." Adrien says, gratefully, "Everyone, I appreciate all your help."

Alya pats him on the back, "We're happy to do this for you after all you've done for us. You don't have to worry about a thing, we'll take care of everything."

A huge serpent crawls around the street corner, inciting panic among the Parisians. Ladybug and Chat leap down from the rooftops, stopping the creature in its tracks. "Snakes. Why does it have to be snakes?" Chat readies his staff in case of any sudden movements on the snake's part.

"I didn't know cats were afraid of snakes." Ladybug jokes, twirling her yoyo around.

He lets out a forced laugh, "The ones with common sense are."

The creature lashes out at them, its fangs glistening in the midday sun. "Give me your Miraculousssss." They hiss, swishing their body back and forth in attempt to surround them.

Alya waits around the corner with Nathaniel, who has been dressed in a set of Adrien's clothes and primed blond wig that Rose was able to style just like Adrien's hair. "This is perfect," she addresses him, "all you have to do is run across this street, making sure you keep your back to me. I should be able to get Adrien and you in the same shot and _boom_ , count the Chat rumor as dead." She pulls up her camera on her phone.

His hands fidget, "You think this will take more than one try?" He jumps at the concussive sound of something getting smashed just around the corner.

She rests her hand on his shoulder, "I'll do my best to get us out of here in no time." He nods. "Alright, let's do this. Remember to wait for my signal."

Alya rushes to the middle of the deserted street; Chat and Ladybug fighting only a block in front of her. She begins videoing the fight before her. "This is Alya of the Ladyblog, reporting to you from the site of the latest Akuma attack-" off camera, she waves her hand to Nathaniel "-which appears to be a huge, snake-like creature bent on tearing up Paris."

Nathaniel takes a deep breath before running full speed across frame, making sure to keep his face turned away. Alya smiles, giving him a thumbs up to the panting doppelganger without pausing her coverage. He moves behind her for the rest of the battle.

"This rogue reptile seems to be no match for our Ladybug and Chat Noir. Using her lucky charm, Ladybug has snared the Akuma and obtained the akumatized object, a necklace of some sort. With the Miraculous power she has returned Paris back to her beautiful self and saved the victim with the help of Chat Noir. This is Ladyblog, signing off." She concludes.

Ladybug zips off in the opposite direction as Chat moves to the nearby shadows, emerging as Adrien before jogging over to Alya. "Did you get it? Did it work?" He asks eagerly, looking to her phone.

She nods, "If I hadn't been the who thought of it, I could swear that you were in two places at once." She shows the clip with Nathaniel running across the screen.

Adrien laughs, "That's awesome! It's posted?"

She taps her screen, "As of now, it is live for the public."

He sighs with relief. "I can't thank you enough for figuring this out, and everyone else to helping bring it together."

"You save us from _actual_ monsters and villains," Nathaniel remarks, "I _think_ we owe you."

He chuckles, "Sure,"

"We're here for you, Adrien; Chat Noir or not." Alya cements, "Unless you pull some comic book stunt of erasing our memories or something, we've got your back." She hits his arm gently.

He lets her words sink in, soon overcome with the familiar and overwhelming feeling of _trust_ , almost similar to how he feels with Marinette. "Thank you" he says finally, "Just, thank you."


End file.
